When Alex and her family move to Golden Bay, she wants to stay well away from the weird department store, Franklin's Emporium. But, with a new kitten in the house, Alex can't avoid the pet shop and soon goes home with a bit more than she bargained for...

I opened the door, feeling honoured, and stared at the structure rearing halfway up to the ceiling... Sam was up a stepladder adjusting the mirrors.

The invisicat sprang. It couldn't get a grip on the polished surface, skidded right across the top and flew off the other end. On the way it knocked off the pudding, the dishes and the spoons. everyone span round and stared as, one by one, things cascaded to the floor.

In the middle of the display was a portrait of Eli and his family. I recognized him easily from his picture in the pamphlets. Next to him was his tired-looking wife, and in front, three small girls, posing stiffly in frilly dresses. At the back, one on either side of Eli and his wife, stood two tall, thin, dapper young men. Arthur and Walter.

Mushroom designs in Society6 shop

Mastery

“We are all in search of feeling more connected to reality—to other people, the times we live in, the natural world, our character, and our own uniqueness. Our culture increasingly tends to separate us from these realities in various ways. We indulge in drugs or alcohol, or engage in dangerous sports or risky behavior, just to wake ourselves up from the sleep of our daily existence and feel a heightened sense of connection to reality. In the end, however, the most satisfying and powerful way to feel this connection is through creative activity. Engaged in the creative process we feel more alive than ever, because we are making something and not merely consuming, Masters of the small reality we create. In doing this work, we are in fact creating ourselves.”

― Robert Greene, Mastery

Curiosity

"Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths".